So we were off from Bobo-Dioulasso, pilgrims crammed into a chartered mini-van the size of a phone booth, chickens hung off the back, squawking as if menaced by gigantic fish with foot-long whiskers.

The chicken viewpoint was obvious: sacred catfish be damned.

After ricocheting along a deeply eroded riverbed, abruptly ending at the precipitous edge of a dry waterfall, we piled out to find this was no tourist trap. The steep trail was littered with locals toting chickens and handmade hoes, no tourists except us, a bona fide pilgrimage to the pools of the sacred catfish.

Hey bro, what are the hoes for?

Plucking a chicken to feed the sacredcatfish What the Hoe is For

We followed gaggles of children down the waterfall. The children were tugging on the thumbs of paterfamilias and better halves bedecked in everything from bib overalls to Sunday-go-to-meeting paraphernalia, hoes slung over shoulders.

At the bottom of red rock cliffs resembling Sedona country -- feel the energy vortex -- we found ourselves slipping and sliding on viscous red feathers, and also found out what the hoe were for; clunk, no more chicken squawk.

Oui, monsieur, you must take off your shoes and the hat. Ees sacred.

Walk barefoot over ratty chicken feathers spattered with blood: get real. But ees sacred. So we hauled off our shoes and gingerly tiptoed under giant shade trees set between sacred catfish pools, roasting three much quieter chickens.

Ever shucked a chicken? Fun is a chicken-plucker, made palatable by the relish of adding to inches of feathers covering an area the size of a football field.

Random Protuberances

But hey, don’t go there.

Red hot chili peppers

Halt for a skinny dipping lady with no fear of nipped off protuberances.

But don’t twitching tendrils tickle tender tushes?

Apparently not, so we ground to a halt, stymied on our drive to deliver lucky hearts and gizzards to hallowed and apparently hollow, catfish.

We were chomping-at-the-bit, anxious to solicit the luck of the sacred catfish blessing. After much thumb-twiddling on our part, the brave lady emerged, buffed herself dry, and leisurely dressed, eventually allowing us to push bravely forward and deliver the bounty to voracious bewhiskered fish, spoiled rotten and likely susceptible to some form of mad catfish disease.

The Lucky Blessed

After all, they’d devoured a protein species of ill repute. Cannibalism should likely be prohibited among all species whose names begin with C.

Like everyone else, we were among the lucky blessed. The sacred catfish, menacing and swirling in their enormousness, devoured every savory morsel. The pilgrimage insured our future fortune and happiness, which we immediately reaped at the music and film festivals in Ouagadougou (pronounced Waga-doo-goo), the capitol of Burkina Faso.

July 4, 2004: Bobo Dioulasso - Dafra - Koro - Bobo Dioulasso By mobylette, we go to the "holy fish". Wim is sitting at the back, holding a chicken and Moumou is driving. I have my own mobylette, but no chicken… Over a rough 8 km dirt road, through mud zones and over wet fields, we arrive in Dafra.

From here it is a beautiful walk down to the "Mare aux Poissons Sacrés" through an astonishing mountain landscape. Our chicken is getting quiet. Does it know its destiny? Once we are down at the lake, we hand it over to a local. He is going to sacrifice the intestines to the huge cat fish. Barefoot, we walk over the chicken feathers to the slaughter table. The chicken looses its head, feathers, paws and intestines within a few minutes. The meat will later be grilled and eaten by the people here. But it is time to feed the fish… Due to the heavy rain, the water is brown and we can only see some black beards like little snakes on the surface.

The intestines disappear quickly, and we are a bit disappointed. The show is over… But for the local people, who come here, this is not at all a show. It is all part of their animist culture/religion. By offering food to the fish, they want to make the gods happy, so that their problems will be solved. On our way up, we cross more people, who are going down with a goat, a sheep, some chickens,…

Well--they chopped off a chicken's head on Kid Nation this season--so maybe yes?

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"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

press~TEAMS MUST BREAK OUT THEIR DANCE MOVES OR INCUR A COSTLY PENALTY AT A DETOUR IN BURKINA FASO, AFRICA, ON "THE AMAZING RACE 12," SUNDAY, NOV. 25 "Let's Name Our Chicken Phil" - Teams must impress the local judges in Burkina Faso with their dance moves to avoid a penalty and receive their next clue, on THE AMAZING RACE 12, Sunday, Nov. 25 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

So the Dancing with the Stars is one task of the Detour; wonder what the other task could be. So far we have seen Ronald/Christina; Azaria/Hendekea; Jason/Lorena; Kynt/Vyxsin; and Nathan/Jenny doing the dance. Any others?

I'll guess Lorena & Jason but do the detour twice. I bet once you do it once and get the hang of it the second times a snap but now you have lost some of your lead unless of course the U-Turn or whatever makes you do the other detour option that you didn't choose the first time around .

Episode Detail: Let's Name Our Chicken Phil - Amazing Race 12 The eight teams dance in Burkina Faso for celebrity judges who can impose a 10-minute penalty for lack of originality; and a new wrinkle in the race causes one team to make an unpopular decision they fear will place a target on their backs.

"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

Can I just say that it is NEVER a good idea to name something that you are going to eat or see eaten?

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"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

And can anyone enlarge and sharpen this shot? If we could get a clearer view of the license tag and the stone mile marker it would help pinpoint our location!

MIA: Roadblock...will this be the TBC? Is there time to fit the roadblock in?? all to be determined!

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"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

But the Break it looks like a detour peach and CBS says it is? Christina says to Ron that hes really good at shaking his booty as she reads the clues by the arrows?If they feed a live chicken to a catfish I'll eat boogers

I'm calling the detours break it or beak it Roadblock panning for gold?

I thought one of the Webclues said teams have to dance IN ORDER TO RECEIVE THEIR CLUE? So they get the clue and choose?

So you think mining could be a Roadblock then?

Am I all confused? Totally possible!

They are taking that chicken on it's last drive somewhere....dum dum dum DUM!

Hey--as long as we have something to play with--I don't care!

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"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan